1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable electronic apparatus having a box-shaped housing which contains circuit boards, each having circuit parts mounted on it, and various functional components such as a floppy disk drive and extension connectors, and also relates to a method of assembling this portable electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a variety of book-type and notebook-type portable computers have been produced. Each of these computers comprises a box-shaped base unit, a keyboard attached to the base unit and a display unit which is a flat panel hinged to the base unit.
The base unit of a portable computer of this type comprises a box-like housing made of synthetic resin. The housing contains circuit boards, each with various circuit parts mounted on it, and also functional components such as a floppy disk drive and extension connectors. The circuit boards and the functional components are located on the bottom wall of the housing and fastened thereto by screws at predetermined positions.
In the conventional portable computer, the circuit boards and functional components are discrete parts, each fastened to the housing by screws. Inevitably it requires considerable time and labor to incorporate these parts into the housing. The efficiency of assembling the portable computer is therefore low. Particularly low is the efficiency of assembling a portable computer of which the housing is small. The housing is small, and the space in the housing is limited. The internal components are densely packed in the limited amount of space available, with little space between. A circuit board and a functional component overlap at portions where they are fastened by screws to a wall of the housing. In most cases, an object such as a finger or a tool can hardly have easy access into positions deep in the housing. This is one of the major obstacles to efficient assembly of portable computers. Moreover, to remove a functional component or a circuit board from a position deep in the housing, many parts surrounding the component or board must be removed, one after another. Consequently, considerable time and labor is also required in achieving inspection and maintenance of a portable computer, as well.
The bottom wall of the housing described above needs to have a number of bosses, at prescribed positions where functional components and circuit boards can be fastened to the bottom wall by screws. The space within the housing is reduced by the volume of the bosses. To secure a sufficient space within, the housing must then be made larger, making it difficult for the computer to be as compact as is desired. Some more improvement should therefore be made in this respect.
The housing of the conventional portable computer contains and supports many functional components and circuit boards. To stably support them, the housing must be made up of thick walls. The thicker the housing walls, the more difficult it is to make the computer as light and compact as desired.